Tortured victims to protect his turf

Gang ringleader gets 17-year prison stint

Hey there, time traveller!This article was published 10/10/2013 (1406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba gang ringleader has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for brutally torturing a pair of criminal rivals.

Leslie Moody took drastic actions in the summer of 2009 when he felt others were muscling in on his turf in the community of Nelson House, which is located about 75 kilometres northwest of Thompson. So he rounded up some associates and targeted two victims in a pair of shocking attacks several weeks apart.

In one case, a man was shot in the leg and suffered such a gruesome injury his limb eventually had to be amputated. He was also pinned down while attempts were made to cut off several fingers. The victim also suffered an extensive beating that lasted several hours.

In the other case, a man was struck repeatedly with several metal bars, cut all over his body with a knife and had a gun held to his head. Attempts to shoot him in the leg failed when the gun misfired, court was told. The victim's mother also had the firearm pointed in her face when she tried to intervene.

"These actions were a concerted, calculated exercise of deplorable, stomach-churning violence," Justice Gerald Chartier said Thursday in handing down his sentencing decision.

The Crown had asked for a total of 18 years, while Moody was seeking 10 years.

Moody has spent just over four years in pretrial custody, which was given double credit of just over eight years and will be reduced from his overall sentence. His arrest predates legislative changes that essentially outlawed the two-for-one practice.

Chartier has also ordered Moody to serve half of his remaining sentence before he is eligible for parole, citing the level of violence and background of the accused. Typically, inmates are eligible for parole after serving one-third of their sentence.

Moody has an extensive prior criminal background including a 2005 conviction where he held a man in his basement for two days, repeatedly beating and burning him. He received eight years behind bars for that and was still on parole when these crimes occurred. Moody was also under three different weapons prohibitions at the time.

Several others have already admitted to lesser roles in the two attacks and received sentences in the range of six years. But Moody was clearly the "directing mind," court was told.

Moody comes from a tragic background, which includes being abandoned by his mother, never knowing his father and having a brother freeze to death, according to his lawyer. There is also a troubling legacy of residential school abuse within his family.

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